A blog about media and technology. Sorry, no cat GIFs.

Monthly Archives: November 2013

This has been around the Interwebs for a few days, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth your time.

The folks at BobDylan.com have created a new video for his most-famous song, one that allows you to do more than sit back and listen. It’s nice to see that even established icons like Dylan recognize the the value of interactive storytelling. Without giving away too much, I think this video will give you new respect for Drew Carey, Marc Maron and even the folks at ESPN.

I don’t have any respect for the folks at ESPN, but you might.

Anyway, the new video is part of a marketing campaign around the release of “Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection.” You could argue they’re just wrapping old goods in a new package, but when it’s a classic song like this, who cares?

Watch the video and share your thoughts by emailing arichter@readingeagle.com. (Comments have been disabled in a last-ditch effort to combat spam.)

If Twitter and its investors get richer, more power to them. But investing in the stock market is, I must admit, just not my thing.

(Although part of my retirement plan includes selling off a box full of old baseball cards. So if you’re in the market for a bunch of Scott Rolen rookie cards, let me know. Anyone? Anyone? Hello?)

Twitter’s viability is important, however, and not just because social media addicts like me want more options than just Facebook. The company has become an important part of the news landscape. News outlets and individual journalists take to Twitter to break news and call attention to stories. In its IPO filing, Twitter itself touted its value as a tool for instant conversations about developing news.

So Twitter needs news outlets, and we need Twitter. You know who doesn’t seem to need it? You.

According to the Pew Research Center’s latest report, “Twitter News Consumers: Young, Mobile and Educated,” a whopping 84 percent of U.S. adults surveyed are NOT on Twitter. Half of the remaining 16 percent say they get news on the service, but we’re still talking about just 8 percent – fewer than one in 10 adults.

Is it time the other 92 percent caught up with the rest of us?

The same Pew study also shows that news updates on Twitter can help readers assemble bits of a story as it develops, as well as shape the conversation. This doesn’t replace the news story, but it does give readers the chance to watch a story unfold. That’s why Reading Eagle reporters will tweet from live events like municipal meetings or sporting events, but this doesn’t replace the story that will appear in print and online later.

And just because most people aren’t on Twitter now doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future. Consider the latter part of the above-mentioned title of Pew’s report: “Young, Mobile and Educated.” Nearly half, or 45 percent, of Twitter users are between 18 and 29, an age group that constitutes 21 percent of the total population Only about 16 percent of its users are 50 and older.

Will young users continue to stick with Twitter as they move into older age brackets? That’s a question that will shape the now-public company’s future.

But investors, and news outlets who have come to depend on the microblogging service, had better hope that the answer is yes.

I don’t know why GIFs have returned to Internet fashion. And frankly, I don’t care.

These days GIFs are increasingly creative and easy for even non-artists to make, thanks to apps like Vine, 5Seconds and GIFBoom.

I’ve tried my hand at a few GIF loops since Vine first came out, but the most fun GIF I made this week. I was at the Phish concert in Reading, Pa., and took nearly 100 photos. I took the best 37 and assembled them into a short concert GIF. If you don’t have three-plus hours to listen to a Phish concert, maybe you have a few seconds to see it in an endless loop. Sorry, I couldn’t add a soundtrack. Maybe next time.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think by emailing arichter@readingeagle.com. I have turned off comments for this blog, due to getting hit with spam.